A printer in which a printing plate is attached to the outer periphery of a plate cylinder fixed to a plate driving shaft has been known.
In such printer, a sheet-like printing plate may be attached by being wound around the plate cylinder fixed to the plate driving shaft. In this case, the operation of attaching the printing plate in the printer is cumbersome, making accurate attachment of the printing plate to the plate cylinder difficult.
To avoid this situation, after winding the sheet-like printing plate around the plate cylinder removed from the plate driving shaft, the plate cylinder may be fixed to the plate driving shaft. In this case, since the plate cylinder is substantially heavy, it is difficult to detach/attach the plate cylinder from/to the plate driving shaft.
Inventor proposes a printing plate that can be attached to the printer readily and accurately by providing a plate section on a part of the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical plate body made of an elastic material, and forming an engagement part on the inner periphery of the plate body so as to protrude inward and extend in the axial direction (refer to Patent document 1).
The printing plate is attached to a printing plate attachment device of the printer for use. For example, the printing plate attachment device includes a plate cylinder part fixedly provided at the plate driving shaft, and the printing plate is fitted into the plate cylinder part from one end. By providing a circumferential positioning groove, into which the engagement part of the printing plate is fitted from the one end, and an axial positioning stopper that comes into contact with the end of the printing plate on the outer periphery of the plate cylinder part, the printing plate can be attached to a predetermined position of the plate cylinder part accurately and readily. Further, the printing plate can be readily detached from the one end of the plate cylinder part.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-285861